USA Election

With the US Presidential elections only 17 months away (UGH!), I found this and that it was seriously cool! Just sit back and watch the colours change. As it progress through time, remember back to who won those elections!

Happy Birthday, Stephanie!

Allow me to introduce my sister, Stephanie. She lives in Lakewood, Colorado with her husband, Anthony, her daughter, Audrey, and her twin sons, Carson and Creighton. And she just happens to be one of the most amazing people I know.

Now I realise I might be biased. but ask anyone who knows her and they'll tell you the same.

Let's start with her laugh. It's beautiful. And infectious. And when you are around her you laugh a lot: with her, at her, at yourself, out loud, proper belly jiggling, tears rolling down your face laughing. Sometimes it is at what she did. Sometimes what she said. Sometimes it's just the way she looks. Not that she is funny looking. She is just funny.

Then there is her inner beauty. She sets the standard for being non-judgmental. She is honest and always gently (or not) points out when I'm not being my authentic self. She teaches me lessons in acceptance every day.

She is a great mother. She gave me a book called Babywise which basically taught Marc and I how to survive our first 6 moths as parents. We couldn't have done it without her. She gave us amazing tips on how to use a naughty step effectively.

When Stephanie graduated from high school, I was living in Germany. As a gift I gave her a ticket to fly out and stay with me. At 6:05 in the morning just as I was getting out of the shower the morning before I thought she was due to arrive, my phone rang. Steph was on the other end, crying wondering why I hadn't picked her up at the airpoort. I explained that she wasn't due to arrive until the following day. She indignantly replied that I was clearly mistaken as she was AT the airport in Dusseldorf. It was her very first trip outside the USA. She spoke no German and had to beg for change and instructions on how to use the phne. She was only 18. She could have killed me.

We have done numerous road trips all over the place. We drove around France that summer and stayed in some of the worst places. Then all over Belgium and stayed in some of the best places (after having about 3 too many bottles of wine). Do you remember falling down the stairs and tripping over the cutlery trolley? We sang songs from The Sound of Music on the hilltops of Hidelburg (I know it should have been Austria but we were close). We drove across Wyoming and South Dakota, through the badlands to Mount Rushmore. We drove across Colorado to Missouri.

Steph and I have a lot in common:

• We both LOVE sushi
• We both married tall men
• We both love being mothers but constantly struggle with the balance of keeping ourselves intact
• We love cooking
• We love reading

We are also very different:

• I'm super duper controlling; She is so laid back she is horizontal
• I'm a morning person; She is a night owl
• I am hyper organised; She is the last minute queen
• I am a baseball nut; She is a hockey fanatic

I have so many memories of time spent with my sister: taking a break from Christmas shopping and making up stories about the lives of fellow shoppers, her bachorlorette party (my mother is still angry with me), celebrating the Stanley Cup victory with the Colorado Avalanche, clubbing until the wee hours of the morning during my single days, her showing me how to give Sebastian a bath in our bath tub when he was a baby (without me having to get in with him), drinking coffee in the morning when the house is still quiet. I could go on and on and on and on.

I remember when I bought her her very first Louis Vuitton handbag. You would have thought I had delivered her the second coming. It still fills me with joy when she wears the diamond and pearl necklace I gave her for her sweet 16.

One of the best things my sister and I ever did was write a eulogy for my grandmother's funeral. It was the hardest thing we've ever done. Our husbands supported us with endless cups of coffee and watched us practice until we could do it without breaking down sobbing. I wrote. She edited. I remember standing up there next to her. I started off with a wobble in my voice but ended strongly. She started off strongly and then faultered midway through. Without each other, we couldn't have done it. That's pretty much how I feel about life and my sister. Without her, I don't think I could have made it this far. She is my go-to person for advice in just about everything! She's an expert at childcare advice and without her my children would still be taking a bath with me and not eating solid foods.

Today is Stephanie's 33rd birthday. I love you, sis! I miss you so much it aches. Hope you have a glorious day!

School Practice Day

Today was Abigail's Practice Day in Nursery at St George's.

And I realised I have made good progress against my parenting objectives. Marc and I set off on this journey hoping to be good enough parents to raise happy, confident, independent adults. today proved to me that we are at least part way there.

We dropped Sebastian off at 8:30 and Abigail was very confused about why she couldn't go in straight away. So we took her for some hot chocolate to distract her until her start time of 9:30. This was a pure stroke of genius. And several other mothers had the same idea which meant she got to meet up with 3 other girls before going into the classroom. Then she had already built some friendships and she wouldn't have to walk into a room where she knew no one.

I needn't have worried. We all walked back over the road to the school. At the classroom door, Abigail turned to me and said with a wave "Bye Mum!" I told her I'd come in with her. She looked at me like "If you insist......" I followed her around as she touched everything in the room and talked with her new classmates. I bent down to reassure her that I was still there and she asked me if I would please leave.

So I did. The tears didn't start until I walked out of the school.

It amazes me how steep the dependence curve is. Abigail is just 3.5 years old and yet she can already walk, talk, and wee in the toilet. She has independent thought and makes friends using social skills of her very own. She knows how to negotiate and manipulate. She knows how to charm and how to amaze. She'll be fine.

I on the other hand spent a great deal of the morning feeling redundant. I sought solace in multiple cups of coffee thinking she might not want to return home with me. And then she ran across the room and wrapped her arms around my neck and took my hand to cross the road. Nothing has ever felt sweeter.

Weight

Ug, must I blog about this. And I don't want to. But my health depends upon it.

Ever since having children I've been carrying around a few extra pounds. OK, a lot of extra pounds.

I weighed about 9 st (126 lbs) before I had children. I always had a little tummy on me (genetic carb intolerance or so I'm told) but I liked my figure. I could always find something cute to wear, whatever the occasion. I always felt sexy. I wasn't afraid of the swimming pool or beach.

When I got pregnant with Sebastian, I ate for England. Whole jars of green olives would disappear during my midnight cravings. I binged on Cherry Garcia.

I had read that it was bad to diet when breast feeding and believed the lies about breast feeding ensuring my weight loss. I lost a few pounds here and there just before I got married although quite frankly, I didn't try all that hard.

Then I got pregnant with Abigail. And the weight just dropped off. I was sick for the first 4 months of the pregnancy and for almost all of it couldn't stand the smell of food cooking. I ate loads of salads and fruit. During the last trimester my appetite returned with a vengeance and I ate everything in sight. I focused my attention of bread, butter and cheese. At the same time. In vast quantities.

Post-pregnancy and in the throes of toddler mummyhood, I ensure my children are well fed. We make our own bread. I bake cookies, cakes, and pies. And eat them. I skip breakfast because I am usually running out the door in a morning frenzy with a large cup of cafe au lait in my hand. I grab a bag of crisps (potato chips) and a cheese sandwich with a diet coke for lunch nearly every day in the office. If I'm at home I have a baked potato with loads of butter and sour cream. Dinner is the square meal of meat, potato, veg. Or something similar. I never serve ready made meals but that doesn't necessarily mean what I prepare is much healthier. I eat until it is all gone because I hate being wasteful. I nibble bowls of popcorn with butter after the children have gone to bed nearly every night. Or chips & dips. Or cheese & crackers. I don't drink enough water.

Abigail is 3.5 years old and I'm nearly the heaviest I've ever been. I say nearly because 2 years ago I decide I needed to get my act together. I trained for an 8k run and watched my diet and lost 3 st (42 lbs). I ran the race and immediately went back to my old ways. My increased metabolism (from the running) meant that I kept it off for a while. But I found myself with the same old clothing dilemmas went I went to buy my dresses for the Summer Ball and Ascot Ladies Day. Even though I loved my dress, I would have liked it better on me if I had been 60 lbs lighter. I put myself on the scale and I'm just under what I weighed when I started training for my run.

My sister recently blogged about her health check. She is going to go carb free. Despite my protests that death is inevitable (which obviously she took on board), she is right that we don't have to die of obesity related disease. And I want to run with my children. And I want to feel sexy again. and I want to buy groovy hip clothing like I used to.

There's woman in my office who works for me who has lost 5 st (70 lbs) since January. She looks fabulous. Everyday she sits down next to me and I marvel at her ever shrinking figure and her ever expanding confidence.

So a few days ago, privately I started making some changes. In my food choices. In my activity level. In my attitude.

Now, I need to go public 'cause I'm gonna need a lot of support! I've got some weight targets and I want to see a change in my energy levels. Now some of you are frightened of what I might be like if I had more energy. Trust me, this will be a good thing! I'll try not to bore you with my constant struggle and if I seem a bit grumpy, please accept my apologies in advance. I'm aiming to run that 8k race again in September. I'll keep you posted!

Dream Job

My dream job has always been to get paid to read. Well, I got it! Sort of......

Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, a Time magazine journalist, who does the most relevant blog for my demographic, has sent me a whole load of books to review. I volunteered on her blog to review 1 book, Scream Free Parenting which had been sent to her. Instead today I received 4 bookes including the original commitment. And wholly unexpectedly my payment has been a complimentary signed copy of the book she wrote, Remember Me.

OK, so I won't be retiring anytime soon but I did very nearly buy this book off Amazon just because I really like what Lisa writes on her blog. And the subject of Remember Me is fascinating: Death. Besides, my copy I couldn't have bought of Amazon. Lisa wrote me a wee little note. She even spelled me night correctly!

Now it has just dawned on me that I have 5 books to read. My dream future could be at stake. Oh the pressure! Deep breaths.....I can do this!

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

How I have eagerly awaited this book....it was bound to be a disappointment. But it wasn't! And whilst this book doesn't rate as highly on my favourites of all time list as The Kite Runner, it still makes it on to the list (top 25 maybe).

TKR tells the story of men in Afghanistan and A Thousand Splendid Suns tells the story of the women: the mothers, the daughters, the wives, and the friendships.

I found this book a bit more predictable than TKR. Maybe I am more familiar with the plight of women in Afghanistan because it has been covered more in the media. Or maybe because I am a woman, I've been more interested and therefore read and listened better. The plight of the men in TKR was a completely foreign notion to me. But the degree of beating and subservience of the women was astonishing. I cannot even begin to imagine having no control over your life. What they must endure would kill me in 5 minutes flat.

My heart broke for these women. The idea that your father could be killed and because there was no man in your family to walk you to the market, you simply couldn't go breaks my heart. Or that you could be married off to a man 30 years older than you and this was OK because you needed to eat. Or be abandoned by a father simply because you were an embarrassment and he would rather see you sleep on a street outside of his house. The lack of identity and sexuality in Miriam after her marriage is unbelievable.

When I first started reading I was frustrated because the characters seemed so shallow. But as the story unfolds, you discover the depth and strength of the characters, not unlike how friendships and relationships develop. The relationship between Laila and Mariam is beautiful. They literally save each other every single day from complete and total despair.

There are a few plot surprises which I don't want to give away but much like TKR I couldn't put the book down. And Hosseini is a master at conveying the details of physical space. I could picture in my mind's eye every place these people walked.

Afghanistan has all but disappeared from the headlines. And these people (both men and women) still live in horrific conditions both physically, mentally, and spiritually. Hosseini does a great job of informing the world about the plight of his people.

I encourage everyone to read this book! And if you haven't read TKR, start reading it TODAY!

Happy Father's Day

Walk a little slower, Daddy.

Said a little child so small.

I'm following in you footsteps

And I don't want to fall.

Sometimes your steps are very fast.

Sometimes they're hard to see;

So, walk a little slower, Daddy,

For you are leading me.

Someday when I'm all grown up,

You're what I want to be;

Then I will have a little child

Who'll want to follow me.

And I would want to lead just right.

And I know that I was true;

So walk a little slower, Daddy,

For I must follow you.

Father's Day Gifts

Some ideas for father's day!

Arabian Nights Summer Ball

Last night was the St George's School Summer Ball. The theme was Arabian Nights and the venue was the Home Park of Windsor Castle, ie, the Queen's back garden/yard.

Early in the day, the skies turned dark grey and the heavens opened up. The rain fell in sheets. Luckily, the weather cleared within an hour and the sky was crystal blue by the time we arrived by cab at the Town Gate.

My husband looked so handsome in his monkey suit, ahem, I mean dinner jacket! I had a bit of a panic the day before when I tried on the outfit I originally planned to wear. It was brown and I looked like a big turd. I wasn't going to make that mistake again! I power shopped and found a cream coloured chiffon cocktail dress that was beautiful.

Security was a bit strict and everyone was told to bring picture ID. The name on the event ticket had to match the name on ID. Everyone was security checked before we arrived. Once there, everyone looked beautiful with their own interpretation of what evening wear is. The dresses were stunning. The bling was fun. Hair was big.

We arrived for a champagne reception with the amazing castle looming large above us. The objective for the whole event was to raise money for musical instruments for the school so that students can try out various instruments before their parents have to make an investment and buy something their children later discover they don't want to play.

Champagne flowed freely and we bought an envelope from the Tree of Hope for £10. I won a free gym introduction and fitness programme at the Windsor Leisure Centre. I'm paranoid so I think it was fixed and someone is telling me I need to workout!

The venue was the marquee tent which has been constructed for the Travener's Cricket match and sponsored by Emirate's Airlines. It was nice of them to let us use it. The members of the PTA and parents had decorated it very nicely. The bouquet centrepieces were stunning! Wish I'd won that raffle!

Year 1 had quite a good showing. We had over 5 tables of parents. No bad going really. I reckon, if anyone's counting, that our year had more parents than any other year!

We did a round of heads and tails. In the end only one man and 4 women were left standing. And the man won!

We were left to eat our dinner which was quite an improvement on the meal we were served 2 years ago but seriously can you really serve hot delicious meals for 400+ ? To be honest, it was a bit bland. I did my best and stuck to my carb free diet despite a starter of a tart (I scrapped off the filling and ate just that). I didn't touch my bread which was nothing short of a will power triumph and my potatoes went back to the kitchen. I even maintained my determination during pudding. I gleefully ate my creme brulee and scrapped the chocolate mousse of the pie crust base.

During coffee and chocolate we were enticed by numerous auctions. There were some fabulous temptations: private tour of the royal mews by one of the Queen's grooms; carriage ride in the royal grounds, river boat meals for four. All in all the school raised over £10,500. That's a lot of musical instruments!

We continued to consume wine (although apparently they had run out of champagne!) and were entertained by a belly dancer. OK, so this just made me feel very inadequate!

Then the dancing started! I danced til my feet hurt. OK, so my feet were hurting before the dancing even started....can no one make a comfortable but sexy shoe for a woman with size 3 (USA) foot (size 1 UK)? But the DJ was great and everyone was having a boogey. Even my husband got out there and did was he thinks is dancing. Bless him!

By 12:30, the music stopped. The bar closed and the taxis were called.

We left in the with the stunning tower of Windsor Casstle a lit up just for our benefit (honest!)

More Art

These are the photos that Sebastian drew the day I took him to work with me. From left (clockwise): a horse, a frog, a turtle, a fish.

Stunning, wouldn't you agree?

A Very Late Christmas Party

Last Christmas my boss promised to have a Christmas drinks party for his direct reports. It got postponed until January 2007 since every one's diaries were rather full during the holiday season. In May we were still waiting. A colleague, James, and I decided this just wasn't good enough and took the proverbial bull by the horns and scheduled the party and told our boss he was paying. This worked. And last night we had our Christmas drinks party.

11 of us were scheduled to meet up at The Orange Tree pub in Richmond at 6:30 pm. James and I were meant to take the train from Windsor to Richmond but when I spoke to him he informed that he would be catching the 18:23 train. I'm not entirely sure in what world James thinks a 18:23 train will get him to Richmond by 18:30 but I didn't want to leave my colleague, Carol, waiting alone at the pub so Marc agreed to drive me the alleged 25 minute journey so I could be sure to get there by the time Carol's cab was due to arrive.

We left the house just before 6 pm. The traffic was gridlocked all the way there and I was the second to last to arrive followed by Carol whose cab was stuck in similar traffic! Even James arrived long before I did at 7:15.

It was meant to be a gorgeous summer evening but of course the weather wouldn't cooperate and we were dodged with rain the entire evening. Luckily, it did stop each time we moved pubs. We enjoyed a few drinks at a pub on the river Thames and had dinner at Strada. the food was OK but I wouldn't recommend it to a friend and I doubt I'd go back.

We had loads of fun chatting and getting to know each other a little better. We all tend to work hard and in dispersed office locations. We really only get together as a team for one 1/2 hour meeting weekly. These tend to be all business. Short and sweet. So it was nice to chat with colleagues outside that serious setting and have a laugh.

I work with a good group of people. They are very clever and passionate about their work. They make me better than I would be without them.

I arrived home far too late to be called sensible!

Sisters in Europe - Episode 1

When my sister, Stephanie, graduated from high school, I was living in Germany. As a graduation gift I gave her a ticket to visit and spend some time travelling around Europe.

First things first: she had to get a passport. One thing that always amazes Europeans is that so many Americans don't get passports as soon as they are born. I try to explain that with a country as big as America, they don't really need to go outside of their national borders to have a holiday. Pretty much every thing you can possibly want to do on holiday can be found somewhere in the 50 states. They usually wisecrack a response back like "except history beyond 250 years old". which I have to give them.... I try not to defend a whole country. I am just 1 American. I can't possibly represent a nation of 360 million.

Secondly, she got on the airplane and arrived at the airport in Germany. A day early. OK, a day earlier than I thought she was arriving. It was early morning and I was blow drying my hair (getting ready for work) and my boyfriend, Glen, answered our phone. I heard his side of the conversation which went something like this:

• Hi, Steph!


• Where are you?


• What are you doing there?


• How long have you been there?


• LaDawn, when is you sister arriving?


• To which I reply, Tomorrow morning.


• No, she's at the airport now


• To which I reply, But she doesn't get here until tomorrow.

I could hear my sister crying down the phone, "Come get me! NOW!!" He did.

I took the day off work and spent it apologising to my sister. I'm still apologising.

She didn't speak a word of German. She had to beg for change. Had to ask for help to dial the phone number. The phones were way too different for her to figure out. And the instructions were in German.

She still has not forgiven me. She insists I forgot her. I maintain that I just got the days a bit wrong.

Technical Catastrophes

You may remember that my blog redirect from www.ladawn.co.uk to www.clare-panton.blogspot.com wasn't working a few weeks back. And then it didn't work again. And again.

So I got fed up with my domain host and a few days ago switched to "the largest domain host in the UK". And today, the redirect went down again!

To make matters worse, our broadband service went down a short while later.

I couldn't blog. And you couldn't read. I hope you weren't as frustrated as I was. If you were, I am very sorry.

Advice: bookmark www.clare-panton.blogspot.com !!!!

Another Racing Pic

Here is another picture of my father at the racetrack. This time he is on a horse trained by my Janell's grandfather. Keep in mind that Janell married into my family!

The Girls by Lori Lansens

If I had not read this book immediately after The Post Birthday World I would probably have liked it a whole bunch more. Frankly, TPBW was a tough act to follow. But this was my book group's choice for the months of May/June so I had to get it read.

The Girls tells the story of twins, Rose & Ruby, conjoined at the head as they near their 30th birthday. Ruby writes 2-3 chapters for every 1 that Rose writes. Their voices are very different and this is meant to illustrate how different they are as individuals despite their shared bodies.

It tells the story of the people around them and their relationship with each other. The book focuses mostly around the people who adopt Rose & Ruby after their birth mother abandons them. Uncle Stash & Aunt Lovey a couple already in their 50s when they are born take the girls into their home and dramatically change the course of their lives . And this is my major complaint. I got a lot about Uncle Stash & Aunt Lovey and the other peripheral characters but I don't get enough of the relationship between the girls. There is a very bizarre story of the family's trip to Slovakia which doesn't give much to the story. Then there is Ruby's baby girl which she gives up for adoption. It all seems so contrived.

I get the feeling that the research for the novel didn't include talking to many conjoined sets of twins and that the author felt the need to add people that she could empathise with to pad out the story. There was so much potential for the stories premise. So much more could have been written about what it means to be a twin. About what it means to be a sister. About what it means to be so connected. Instead I got a very sappy, superficial, bizarre tale of Slovakia.

Book Group Update: KR couldn't make it. M & I were in complete agreement in our assessment. Everyone else felt it was an easy read, not very intellectually challenging. Not depressing after the horrific tale of A Sunday by the Pool in Kigali. We all felt we should perhaps challenge ourselves a bit more.

No Post

I'm grumpy. I'm exhausted. I'm stressed.

I vomited at the Leisure Centre whilst waiting for Abigail to finish her ballet lesson.

I'm humiliated. I'm embarrassed. I want to crawl under a rock and die.

I am going to go eat Reese's PB Cups and watch junk TV before I go to book group.

Go read another blog.

Random Act of Kindness

HUGE THANKS to Clare & Michael Workman for the wonderful care package which arrived in the post today. It came at just the right moment!

I picked up Seb and Hetta, one of his school mates, at school. I dropped Hetta off at her home and picked up Abigail. We went home to pack our swimming kit for Seb's swim lesson. We walked in the door to discover that Bailey had diarrhea all over his cage and the floor just outside the cage. He had obviously worked very hard to avoid soiling his own bed but didn't seem to care one little bit about my pristine kitchen floor.

As I was cleaning the mess up, our neighbour, Simon, popped round with the package. He dropped it on the counter and left obviously disgusted with the smell!

I finished disinfecting the kitchen and got our swimming gear packed. Whilst I waited for Marc to arrive home I opened up this box to find Mac & Cheese, Goldfish crackers, instant iced tea and the creme de la creme - Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I sang for joy! I can't even begin to tell you how delightful this was.

Clare & Michael - You are simply the best! Can hardly wait for your visit in September!

Mom My Ride

Mary Mary Quite Contrary

The theme for this year's Old Windsor Carnival was Nursery Rhymes. All of the schools and youth groups in the village put together a float (with a lot of help from local sponsors and parents).

Abigail rode on the Old Windsor PreSchool float and their nursery rhyme was Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. Abigail was one of many ladybirds (aka ladybugs, depending on which side of the Atlantic you live). There were flowers, bumblebees, butterflies, spiders, and scarecrows. It was beautifully decorated. I am envious of people who are so creative. Mostly I'm just glad their children go to Abigail's PreSchool.

We dropped Abigail off at 12:30 and went to get Sebastian's haircut (Steph - you will be relieved!). He looks so handsome. We used to fight with him each time we went. He would cry and fidget. He hated it. My little boy has grown up. He sat in the chair duly checking out every angle of the proceedings in the mirror. He never fidgeted and only complained once about the itchy hair clippings. He told the lady exactly what he wanted. When she was finished, he tipped her.


We returned to our home to grab lawn chairs and raced to the parade route. We made it just in time and I raced to take photographs. We got in the car and parked over by the recreational ground and positioned ourselves and our lawn chairs at the end of he route to catch it all again. I took loads of photos. You can find them all here on Flickr.

That is Abigail's childminder, Jackie as the Queen of Hearts. Her daughter, Georgina is the farthest on the right sitting.

This is our village bobby on the beat, Nick Preston. He has served our village for 25 years. He knows everyone and everyone knows him. It really makes a difference knowing that he's watching out for you!

We proceeded to the recreational grounds for the announcement of the float winner. Our little Abigail's float won The Grand First Prize! I know it was all because of one little ladybird that was just as cute as can be.

There were loads of stalls to see all raising money for the various organisations in the community: Scouts, Brownies, Women's Institute, the local boy's football club. Some had games, or bric-a-barc to sell. It was all very well done.

We rode some fun fair rides. Sebastian loves the bumper cars and Abigail really enjoyed the rides which is quite a difference on last year when she screamed blue murder. This year she squealed with delight. Her big brother took quite good care of her.

Abigail loves getting her face painted (which Sebastian hates) and she became a tiger (dressed as a ladybird) for the day.

We enjoyed all the typical fair food: candy floss (cotton candy), chocolate covered marshmallows, and ice cream.

We took a break and sat on the grass with Jackie (the child minder) and her family whilst the children tried their feet at some football games. They both won some prizes (more chocolate) but I think they had some help and some partial judging.

We returned home exhausted from the sun and fun. What a GREAT Saturday!

Donkey Derby

Yesterday was the commencement of the Old Windsor Carnival. The fair always starts with a donkey derby and fireworks on the Friday.

I packed a picnic for a family of 8 despite only having a family of 4. I always over pack picnics. We met up with a couple families who live in the village and some whose children go to Sebastian's school. Good thing I over packed as a couple didn't bring a picnic. So I served up the whole lot of them. I love feeding people.

The children ran around and wore themselvess out playing with loads of other children.

The donkeys raced and it seems the jockeys were able to stay on better than they did last year. The dads in the group kept the children fired up about gambling. They would read out the names for the next race. The children would pick their favourites. And the bets would be placed. A couple people won a couple pounds. But mostly our money went to benefit the community and charity.

The part I loved most about the evening was how everyone knew everyone else. Our little group grew and grew. We saw the children's childminder. We saw Sebastian's riding coach. We saw the osteopath on whose table my water broke.

We watched the sunset which was spectacular. Abigail was the one who brought everyone's attention to it by pointing to the sky saying "Look, the sky pink." She wasn't joking!

Everyone put on their jackets for the fireworks display which is fabulous. On the village green, set to music, fireworks light up all the spectator's faces. The children cry out "Oooooh" & "Aaaaah!" right on cue. Abigail, who isn't exactly fond of fireworks, covered herself (head and all) with a blanket, laid down on a girl's lap and stayed there the entire time. that's her under the blanket in the photo! Seb cuddled up to me and put one ear against my shoulder. And then put his hands over his eyes. OK, maybe I shouldn't take my children to fireworks displays....but I love them!